Trafficker gives up stake in film with plea deal

A typical money laundering operation uses three stages to separate drug proceeds from their origins and enters them into the legitimate economy, said Jim Dowling, managing director of the Dowling Advisory Group and former anti-money laundering adviser to the White House Drug Policy Office.

The federal government is set to receive a chunk of the profits of a potential blockbuster biopic about the mother of Jesus Christ.

As part of a plea deal, drug trafficker Jorge Vázquez Sánchez has agreed to hand over his 10 percent interest in profits from the movie, “Mary, Mother of Christ,” which is set to film this year and has the backing of pastor Joel Osteen of Lakewood Church in Houston. Osteen is the movie's executive producer.

Vázquez, 34, admitted that he helped extort the movie's screenplay (which was later sold) from a Mexican businessman in San Antonio, Arturo Madrigal, 50, by threatening Madrigal and kidnapping his brother.

Vázquez has also agreed to plead guilty to separate charges that he helped two brothers from Guadalajara launder drug money in San Antonio and elsewhere. Vázquez is scheduled to enter the guilty pleas Thursday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Henry Bemporad and faces up to 20 years in prison on each of the two counts.

The brothers, Mauricio Sánchez Garza, 41, and Alejandro Sánchez Garza, 42, were indicted in San Antonio on charges of laundering money for Mexican drug cartels, and the U.S. government says they are fugitives.

Vázquez, who was arrested last year in Chicago and is jailed in San Antonio, was one of the traffickers for whom they laundered money, according to his plea documents.

“In essence, the Sánchez Garza brothers entered into joint ventures with the drug traffickers, to include (Vázquez), utilizing the proceeds from the drug traffickers for investment purposes with a dual purpose: One, to make the proceeds appear to be legitimate and lawful and insulate the drug traffickers ... from evidence of criminal involvement in the proceeds, and two, to attempt to make a profit for both the drug traffickers, to include (Vázquez), and the Sánchez Garza brothers.”

The Sánchez brothers' businesses include Barbaresco Tuscan Grill and Enoteca on San Pedro on the North Side and an aborted apartment project on the Northwest Side. Federal prosecutors are trying to seize those properties.

The brothers are among three alleged Mexican money laundering groups the feds are targeting in San Antonio through criminal charges and civil lawsuits.

On Twitter, Alejandro Sánchez has said that just because someone made allegations, “it doesn't mean it's true.” He and his brother have since removed their profiles from social media sites.

Arturo Madrigal and Mauricio Sánchez obtained the “Mary” screenplay in 2006 from Benedict Fitzgerald as part of a foreclosed $340,000 business loan. Fitzgerald previously co-wrote Mel Gibson's “The Passion of the Christ,” which grossed a whopping $610 million worldwide.

But in 2008, Mauricio Sánchez and Vázquez threatened Madrigal and kidnapped his brother in Guadalajara to force Madrigal to sign over the “Mary” screenplay to Vázquez, Vázquez's plea paperwork said.

Madrigal reported the matter to San Antonio police, who were able to record the kidnappers making their demands.

“During these calls, it was made clear that Arturo Madrigal was to sign over the movie rights and that if he did not comply, (his) brother's life ‘was at stake,'” the plea paperwork said.

Madrigal was told by his brother's captives that “Mauricio would be contacted” for further direction and that Madrigal would be informed of Mauricio Sánchez's decision.

When the FBI declined to intervene because the matter did not involve U.S. citizens, Madrigal signed over his rights to Vázquez, and his brother was released, according to the plea documents and a police report.

A few days later, Vázquez sold the screenplay to Proud Mary Entertainment (now Aloe Entertainment) in Hollywood for $1 million, which came to $925,315 after bank transfer fees, the plea paperwork said.

The plea documents said Vázquez and Mauricio Sánchez used $625,000 of that money to help buy 37 acres at Babcock Road and Melissa Ann Street, where an upscale apartment complex called Ponte Vedra was planned. Drug money was also used to pay for the land, the documents said.